Dobrinka Tabakova has been appointed as composer-in-residence at the BBC Concert Orchestra, a role that will see her work with the orchestra for an initial period of three years. Her first orchestral commission is scheduled for the 2018/19 season and will be premiered at London’s Southbank Centre.

A month ago, La La Land made history at the Golden Globes by being the first film to win seven trophies, so it’s no surprise that Damien Chazelle’s twinkly Los Angeles musical has had more than its fair share of Oscar nominations, too. With nods in just about every conceivable category, including not one but two for best original song, it has a total of 14 nominations, thus matching the record held by All About Eve and Titanic.

Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Donald Trump are far from the television screen at present. Trump’s latest exploits share screen time with the return of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, the current series of which ends on January 15. But somewhat surprisingly, the two are also connected by the idea of anti-intellectualism.

If the trailers are anything to go by, we already know where to find fantastic beasts: Eddie Redmayne has a suitcase full of them in 1926 New York. But where did they come from, the dragons, unicorns and hippogriffs of the Harry Potter universe? Monsters and mythical beasts perform a role in JK Rowling’s work which transcends that of world-building: they add symbolic and psychological depth, as well as reminding us that we are visiting a magical place. Rowling is both an inventor and archivist of fantastical animals, populating her universe with a mixture of what one might term ‘classic monsters’ (trolls, centaurs, mer-people) and folklore staples (bowtruckles, erklings), alongside her own inventions (dementors).